Steam Saturday: Getting Ready at Conneaut

Nickel Plate Road Berkshire-type No. 759 made its debut as an excursion locomotive in Conneaut on Sept. 8, 1968. Here the locomotive is getting ready to couple onto its train to head east.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

NKP 759 in Conneaut

Saturday was the birthday of day is Ross Rowland, who was in charge of restoring Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 759.

Bob Farkas dug out these photographs to help mark the occasion.

It is Sept. 8, 1968, in Conneaut and these images were made with a twin lens reflex camera.

NKP 759 is eastbound crossing the trestle of the former NKP mainline over Conneaut Creek.

Bob reports who does not know who the two photographers who are in front of him are.

Presented is a full frame scene and a cropped version.

Photographs by Robert Farkas

A Man and His Steam Locomotives

Ed Ribinskas has been passionate about steam locomotives since he can remember. Chasing steam has been a major theme in the remembrances that he has written for this site in recent weeks.

In this post, we pull together some images of Ed with steam locomotives that were created during recent trips in his quest for steam motive power, whether it was operational or on static display.

Ed is show with two steam locomotives that played a role in his railfanning activities during times past.

In the middle photo he is shown fulfilling a dream by being able to sit in the engineer’s seat of Norfolk & Western 4-8-4 No. 611 when it was at a Pennsylvania museum last year.

That experience also included blowing the whistle of the Northern type engine built in Roanoke, Virginia, and which later became the centerpiece of the Norfolk Southern steam program when it still operated.

In the top photo, Ed greets Nickel Plate Road 2-8-4 No. 759, a Berkshire type locomotive now in the collection of Steamtown National Historic Site.

It is known for having pulled the Golden Spike Centennial excursion train in 1969 and for pulling other public excursions until it was retired in 1977.

Nickel Plate Road 759 at Conneaut

Before Nickel Plate Road 765 was restored, there was NKP 759. Here NKP 759 is heading eastbound over the Norfolk & Western (ex-NKP) trestle in Conneaut on Sept. 8, 1968. This was her first excursion after rebuilding in 1968.

Photograph by Robert Farkas

Just Being Nosey With My Camera

Erie Lackawanna No. 1245 sits at EL’s Kent Yard in the late 1960s/early 1970s.

Boston & Maine No. 1746 also sit at the EL yard in Kent. I saw several trains with B&M lashups in the late 1960s/early 1970s. The railfan on the right is Mike Ondecker.

SRS 138 sits in the EL’s Marion yard on Dec. 30, 1972.

No, it’s not Nickel Plate Rod No. 765 but NKP 759 in Conneaut on Sept. 8, 1968, where it would head its first excursion after being restored.

Not a perfect head-on shot, but Chicago, South Shore & South Bend No. 702 suns itself on a cold March 30, 1969, in Michigan City, Indiana.

It is back to Akron with Chessie Steam Special Chesapeake & Ohio No. 614 sitting at the Baltimore & Ohio engine facility on June 24,1981.

I left the United States to photograph VIA 146 in Toronto on July 4, 1981.

For safety’s sake, I rarely took nose shots, but sometimes a locomotive would be sitting still, or I would use a telephoto lens from a safe location.

Here are a few different 30-plus-year-old “noses” taken within a day’s drive radius of Akron.

Photographs by Robert Farkas

Yes, Mr. McCaleb Would Have Approved

Jim Semon’s presentation last Friday night of Willis McCaleb’s color slides of mainly Nickel Plate Road steam is on my list of the top five programs that I’ve seen at the Akron Railroad Club.

Obviously, Mr. McCaleb’s technical quality was exceptional, but his depth of detail in capturing a scene instead of just a train photo made him one of the masters of railfan photography.

How thankful those of us who saw the program can be not only for Mr. McCaleb’s slides but Jim’s interesting narrative.

As for me, capturing a scene was a rare event. I wanted a “train” photo. Still, once in a while, I was blessed with a photo that not only captured an event but a slice of history.

I was looking for a photo to put online and went to a box of black and white negatives.

I had no idea what I’d choose but found this. It is Sept. 8, 1968, and NKP 759 is heading east over the ex-NKP trestle in Conneaut.

NKP 759 is running its first excursion after being restored in Conneaut.

Steam-starved people of all ages from die-hard railfans to families with their children seeing the beauty of a live steam locomotive for the first time lined the tracks.

Down in the valley, the field was dotted with people, cars and cameras. Perhaps Mr. McCaleb would have approved of this image. I like to think so.

Article and Photographs by Robert Farkas